Acetylene-gas-generating lamp.



N0. 632,887. l Patend Sept. l2, |899.

W. A. VONCANN.

ACETYLENE GAS GENEBATING LAMP.

(Application led Sept. 8, 1898.)

(No Model.)

W/TNESSES A7' HNEY,

Ntra Starts arnttr vWILLIAM A. VONCANON, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,887,

dated September 12, 1899.

Application filed September 6, 1898. Serial No. 690,268. (No model.)

10 all whom, if; may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM AToNcaNoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Acetylene-Gas-Generating Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

The obj ect of my said invention is to produce an apparatus for generating and burning acetylene gas. I have illustrated said apparatus in the form of a portable lamp, but obviously the same principle may be employed in many forms of apparatus for the purpose. Said invention will be lirst fully described and the novel features thereof then pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, Figure l is a side elevation of a lamp or apparatus embodying my said invention; Fig. 2, same, as seen from the dotted line 2 2 in Fig. l, with the inner movable cylinder raised somewhat by the internal gas pressure and in contact with the lower end of the tube leading to the burner; Fig. 3, a central vertical sectional view of the upper portion of the device, on an enlarged scale, as seen from the 'dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 2, with the inner cylinder still further raised and the outer cylinder also somewhat raised; and Fig. et, ahoriZont-al sectional view looking downwardly from the dotted line 4 l in Fig.

This apparatus is shown as having a base l, upon which it may stand. To this base is suitably secured a tube 2, upon the upper end of which is a flanged collar 3. Screwed inside of the flange or rim of the collar 3 is a tubular extension 4f, and upon the outer side of said flange or rim is a tube 5, which extends to a greater height than the tubular extension 4. Surrounding the tubular extension e and extending down between it and the tube 5, is a looselynnounted cylinder f5, having an imperforate head 7 at its upper end, and which has at a suitable point in its sides one or more perforations'p. Above or outside the head '7 of this cylinder is another and larger head S, having a downwardly-extending rim or ilango. To the inner side of a central vertical section al view of the l said rim or flange is secured a cylinder 9, which is adjacent to but not in close contact with the cylinder G, and is preferably somewhat longer than said cylinder, and to the outside of said rim orflange is secured the `cylinder '10, which is long enough when the apparatus is in its non-inflated condition to completely cover the upper portion of the structure, as indicated in Figs. l and 2. EX- tending up from the head 8 is the pipe ll, containing, preferably, an ordinary gas-cock 12, and in the upper end of this pipe is a burner 13. Alongside the pipe l1 in the head 8 is a screw-plug la, which when removed leaves an opening for the introduction of a fluid, such as water.

The operation is as follows: The cavity within the tube 2 and the greater portion of the space within the tubular extension 4 become a receptacle for carbid of calcium. The space between the tubular extension el and the tube or cylinder 5 becomes a receptacle for water or a similar fluid, a suitable quantity of which is placed therein. As the cylinder G and the cylinder 9 descend into this space they displace the water, causing it to rise above the upper end of the tubular extension 4 and to dow over into the cavity therein, thus coming in contact with the carbid of calcium,

which as soon as dampened thereby immediately begins to form a gas. Very shortly a sufficient amount of gas is generated to raise first the cylinder 6 and its head 7, which becomes a holder or receptacle for the gas, and afterward through them the cylinders 9 and 10, with their head 8, until the perforationsp in the cylinder G are above the upper edge of the tubular extension et. As soon as this point is reached the gas will escape through said perforations and, rising between the cylinder G and the cylinder 9, which at this point also becomes a holder or receptacle for the gas, will raise the head S away from the lhead 7, permitting the gas to ilow through the pipe ll to the burner 13 when the cock 12 is properly turned. The parts are so proportioned that the receptacles or holders provided will contain as much gas as is generated by the small quantity of water which is first forced over into the cavity containing the carbid of calcium, while the weight of the telescopic parts furnishes suiiicient pres- IOO sure to deliver said gas with sufficient force to the burner. As the gas is consumed these telescopic parts will descend, and when they have reached the predetermined point will displace more water and force the same over onto the carbid of calcium, so that more gas Will be generated, and so on as long as the carbid of calcium provided lasts. The ash formed by the consumption ofthe carbid of calcium in the generation of the gas will pass over the upper edge of the tubular extension 4 and descend to Within the space occupied by the water, thus aiding in the displacement of the latter. The Water may be replenished from time to time, as desired, by removing the plug 14 and introducing Water through the orifice which said plug is provided to lill.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, of a receptacle adapted to contain calcium carbid,an imperforate tube or cylinder open at the upper end surrounding and extending above said receptacle and leaving an intervening space adapted to contain a fluid, and a telescopic cylinder having a closed upper end, and perforations in its sides at a suitable distance from its lower end adapted to enter said space and displace the fluid therein causing the same to loW into the receptacle containing calcium carbid, and a separate surrounding cylinder having a burner attached thereto, the acetylene gas generated by the admixture of the fluid being adapted to escape through the perforations and flow to the burner, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a central receptacle adapted to contain calcium carbid, a receptacle surrounding the same adapted to contain a iiuid, an inverted cylindrical gas-holder adapted to enter the fluid-receptacle and displace the liuid therein, a second separate gasholder surrounding the first and also adapted to enter the fluid-receptacle and assist in displacing the fluid therein, a pipecontaining a cock carried by the head of the last-named cylindrical receptacle, and a gas-burner.

thereon beyond said cock, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, in a selfgenerating acetylene-gas lamp, of a suitable base, a tube inverted gas-holder surrounding the first and' carrying a double cylinder or shell the inner one of which also descends into the fluid-receptacle and the outer one of which completely surrounds the upper portion of the apparatus or lamp, a gas-pipe containing a cock connected to the upper end of said lastnamed structure with a burner secured therein beyond the cock, all substantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 1st day of September, A. D. 1898.

WILLIAM A. VONCANON. [L. s]

IVitnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. WALSH. 

